I run into this more often than you would think.
I’ll be working with a controls engineer, or in a manufacturing facility in front of a PanelView Plus or FactoryTalk View SE SCADA system, when I notice the system seems to be running slow.
This sluggishness often has nothing to do with the type of network being used. I’ve seen it happen on RIO as often as I’ve seen it on Ethernet.
The reason for it is almost always caused by a default setting of every new project and display you create within View Studio: The “Maximum Tag Update Rate.”
This value, found in the display settings of each and every screen in a FactoryTalk View project, accepts a range of .05 seconds to 120 seconds.
However, it defaults to a sluggish 1 second update rate.
Now you may think that 1 second isn’t too bad. But when set at 1 second, I typically see a round trip response from “button push” to “on-screen indication” of nearly three seconds.
Why? Well, if you press the button just after the update occurs, you’ll have nearly a whole second go by until it’s read. And once it’s read and sent to the PLC, you’ll then have close to another second until the screen updates again to indicate its on.
Now in my time working with in-plant operators, I’ve come to the conclusion that they feel most comfortable with a response time of one second or less.
If the screen doesn't respond in a second or two, they'll often assume it didn't read their input and press the screen again.
To avoid this, and insure at least a 1 second update rate, I’ve found you’ll need to set each graphic display screen's “Maximum Tag Update Rate” to at lease .25 seconds.
However (if your system has the bandwidth) I would recommend a .1 second update rate as it provides for a very snappy system more in-line with today’s expectations.
Unsure if your EtherNet system can handle these update rates? Check out our previous article on using Rockwell’s Ethernet/IP Capacity tool which can help you quickly benchmark a system.
I hope you've found the above information about speeding up your FactoryTalk View Displays helpful.
If you have a comment, question, or suggestion please feel free to share it with us by filling out the “post a comment or question” link below.
Until next time, Peace ✌️
Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator
Have a question? Join my community of automation professionals and take part in the discussion! You'll also find my PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.
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I’ve noticed the same thing. I’ve been nervous to decrease past .25 seconds since I always see it so high. It’s nice to have a little reassurance.
Good morning Tisha,
Thanks for your comment, I haven’t run into any issues setting the update at .1 as I’ve found most networks and PLC’s can easily handle this.
However, on a really slow network (like an overtaxed DH+) or with a bogged down PLC (memory near full or with multiple HMIs) too fast an update rate could lead to timeout or connection errors in FTView.
Have a great day,
Shawn Tierney
Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com
I’ve found that HMI tags are also slow. Twice as slow in fact.
If the update rate is set to 1 second, then I see 2 second updates with HMI tags.
Changing over to direct reference tags “fixes” that back to the set 1 second rate.
Just another thing to check, especially those converting over from PanelView Standard
Thanks for the heads up Arlen!
I’m hoping to do a future blog on the Rockwell utility which helps with these conversions from HMI Tags to Direct References – it appears to really helps ease the conversion.
Thanks again,
Shawn Tierney
Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com
Hi,
i have a problem when i open any application with Factory Talk View, i have wait 15 minutes to can accedes and to can change something in the application, do you know someway to accelerate the openning of Factory Talk View?.
I work in a Virtual Machine with VM ware and i use Factory Talk View 6.10.
Best Regards From Mexico.